


He is Life

by mr_reblogbutton



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-09
Updated: 2015-09-09
Packaged: 2018-04-19 21:18:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4761362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mr_reblogbutton/pseuds/mr_reblogbutton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set during episode 5.<br/>How do the others really feel about being left in the dark about Eiffel's sickness? Hera indulges in some rarely accessed emotions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He is Life

"Hera?" Minkowski's voice crackled through the computer's systems. Each sound translated into seperate words, each word given meaning.

"Hera, you there?"

Of course she was. She always was. She couldn't ever not be there.

"I'm h-h-here commander." she replied. "Is everythin-thin-thin-thing alright?"

Her visual sensors located the commander in her quarters. She floated passively just above her bed. The woman's eyes stared listlessly at the ceiling.

She detected a moments hesitation before Minkowski said, "No. No, I don't believe that everything is all right."

"The engines are running smoothly and life support is--"

"It's too quiet." Now that was something that Hera could understand. She too could say that it really was too quiet.

"I'm w-wo-worried commander."

Minkowski nodded in agreement. She had received quite the shock when Hilbert had contacted her off his own volition asking permission for Eiffel to take leave of his duties.

"And why can't he tell me himself? Has he roped you into one of his schemes doctor?" the commanding officer had demanded. All Hilbert could really respond with was a grunt.

"Doctor? Are you okay?"

"I'm having teensy trouble transporting officer Eiffel to his quarters. His fever is quite high and--"

"Fever? He didn't tell me he was sick!" she had interrupted.

"Hera, tell me where officer Eiffel and Doctor Hilbert are."

"Officer Eif-f-fel seems to be unconscious commander." Even then worry had tinged her voice.

One day later Hilbert reported that Eiffel's fever had escalated to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Hera of course had seen the doctor at work by himself many times and definitely suspected foul play, but there was something within her code that seemed to stop her from warning the commander. It was only on the third day that Hera began to notice a change in Minkowski. Normally she would pass this off as Eiffel being a drama queen, but now it had become a matter of a member of her crew being indisposed.

The radio silence in Eiffel's room was annoying for Hera to work around and would find herself being diverted by unseen blockades. Every half hour or so Minkowski would ask the same thing.

"Hera, you there?"

The AI left the troubled woman to her thoughts and diverted her main attention to the bridge. Space was silent. Her fellow crew were loud; always moving and speaking. Everything that they did was detected by her audio sensors. The beat of their hearts, the crack of a joint, the soft breaths emitted even in their sleep. Humans were active symphonies. A certain communications officer was the loudest of them all. But the noise was a sign of life, in Eiffel's case, lonely life. But he still was alive; he always made sure people knew that. Eiffel really was pure life.

In that moment Hera indulged in loneliness. She was a different kind of existence. One that couldn't find a reality. One that shouldn't be real. She missed Eiffel because he made her feel real life. She missed her friend.

Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Commander Minkowski.

"Hera? Hera, you there?"


End file.
